Nine U.S. satellites to be flown from Sriharikota

In a small but significant progress in the chequered Indo-U.S. space equations, Indian satellite launchers will for the first time put a few U.S.-made satellites into space from Indian soil.

ISRO’s commercial venture Antrix Corporation recently signed contracts to launch nine micro and nano spacecraft separately as small co-passengers on the PSLV light-lifter during this year and next, according to information from ISRO

Rs. 120 crore for urban renewal plan

A new phase of India’s urban renewal began on Tuesday with the Union Urban Development Ministry announcing the release of Rs. 120 crore to the States and Union Territories. As part of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the money will be directly transferred to municipal councils nationwide, something that is happening for the first time in India’s urban governance.

The Ministry has identified 482 cities, and each will receive Rs. 25 lakh to pinpoint flaws (in the existing service providing mechanisms such as water supply and sewerage) and come up with solutions.

Autonomous councils key to Naga deal success

A day after the Naga peace accord was signed, a senior government official said here on Tuesday that the creation of “autonomous councils for Naga people outside Nagaland is under consideration.”

A similar peace agreement failed in 2011 as States with a sizeable Naga population such as Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh put up a stiff resistance to the formation of such councils. Though the Centre is yet to release the terms of the accord signed with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), government sources said a “redrawing of the internal boundaries of the States is not on the cards”, but the Naga people would have sovereignty. Autonomous councils are locally appointed governments that function in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.

The NSCN has been demanding a “Greater Nagalim” comprising all contiguous inhabited areas.

Russia bids at U.N. for vast Arctic territories

Russia has submitted its bid for vast territories in the Arctic to the United Nations, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a statement that Russia is claiming 1.2 million square km of Artic sea shelf extending more than 650 km from the shore.

Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the planet’s undiscovered oil and gas. Rivalry for Arctic resources has intensified as shrinking polar ice is opening up new opportunities for exploration.

Russia was the first to submit its claim in 2002, but the U.N. sent it back for lack of evidence.

The ministry said that the resubmitted bid contains new arguments. “Ample scientific data collected in years of Arctic research are used to back the Russian claim,” it said.

Russia expects the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to start looking at its bid in the fall, the ministry said.

In 2007, Moscow staked a symbolic claim to the Arctic seabed by dropping a canister containing the Russian flag on the ocean floor from a small submarine at the North Pole. Amid tensions with the West over Ukraine, the Kremlin also has moved to beef up Russian military forces in the Arctic.